Over half of the world's population, in some 100 countries, is at risk from malaria, with about 500 million acute infections and approximately 1 million deaths recorded each year (1, 2). As a whole, the situation with respect to this disease has shown little improvement in the last 15 years. Vaccine development is proving lengthy and complex and, at the present time, there is no completely satisfactory vaccine on the market. The use of antimalarial drugs still causes major problems due to widespread drug resistance and the toxicity related effects of present chemotherapy.
We have now identified a group of compounds which can induce killing of malaria and other parasites, bacteria, viruses, fungi and tumors. These compounds are non-toxic, and it is unlikely that disease organisms will be able to develop resistance to them.